Polls in mind, BJP rejigs team, ex-AMU V-C among new vice-presidents

The major inductees include Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the former BJP chief of Telangana, a poll-bound state where the party has been pushing to make inroads, as the national general secretary. Bandi Sanjay, who had run into problems with several leaders in the state, was recently replaced as Telangana BJP chief by G Kishan Reddy.

With an eye on the Pasmanda Muslims in Uttar Pradesh and the Christian community in Kerala – both groups the BJP has been wooing, to rid it of its anti-minority image – Nadda inducted Tariq Mansoor as vice-president and Anil Antony as national secretary, respectively. Mansoor, a former vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, is a prominent Pasmanda name, while Antony is the son of senior Congress leader and former defence minister A K Antony.

The BJP already has a Muslim face from Kerala as vice-president, P Abdullakutty, and he remains in his post.

Radhamohan Agrawal, a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh who has been handling Kerala and Lakshadweep as co-in charge for the party, was elevated as national secretary.

This is the first rejig in the national team since Nadda’s term as party president was extended to June next year.

In the backdrop of the BJP’s defeat in Karnataka, controversial party leader C T Ravi, who lost from his own seat, has been removed as general secretary. Ravi was seen as wielding considerable clout due to his proximity to influential national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh.

The move is expected to have a ripple effect in the Karnataka BJP, which is yet to find a replacement for Nalin Kumar Kateel as state chief or to appoint a Leader of the Opposition even as the Assembly Session continues.

Other leaders to lose their posts are senior leader and former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh, ex-West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh, and Lok Sabha MP from Gujarat Bharatiben Shiyal, all removed as vice-presidents.

Lok Sabha MP Dilip Saikia has been dropped as general secretary and Lok Sabha MPs Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi (both from Uttar Pradesh), and Sunil Deodhar are out as secretaries. The message to MPs seems to be to focus on their constituencies.

Party leaders point to the stamp of Nadda’s predecessor and Home Minister Amit Shah in the revamp exercise. For example, Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is considered close to Shah and played a key role in establishing the BJP as an alternative force in West Bengal as general secretary in charge, stays. Although he was never dropped as an office-bearer, Vijayvargiya was without any charge for a while.

His continuance also assumes significance in the backdrop of the BJP facing a fierce battle to retain Madhya Pradesh, the state Vijayvargiya belongs to.

Similarly, former general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh Saroj Pandey, who was dropped from the national team in the last BJP rejig in September 2020, has been re-accommodated as vice-president. Another woman leader from poll-bound Chhattisgarh, Lata Usendi, a former state minister, and BJP Rajya Sabha chief whip Laxmikant Vajpayee have been appointed vice-presidents in the new national team.

Assembly elections are due in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Rajasthan later this year, and among those retained are former chief ministers Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) and Raghubar Das (Jharkhand). They had been inducted immediately after the party lost power in these states.

While Rajesh Agarwal remains the treasurer of the party, Sudhir Gupta has been replaced by Naresh Bansal as co-treasurer.

D Purandeswari, who was recently appointed as BJP Andhra Pradesh president, has been dropped as general secretary.

The appointments, which ensure that upper castes do not feel ignored, follow a series of meetings involving the BJP’s top leaders, including Nadda, Amit Shah and Santhosh. Nadda chaired a meeting of office-bearers on Friday also.

The new BJP national team

Vice-Presidents: Raman Singh, Vasundhara Raje, Raghubar Das, Saudan Singh, Baijayant Panda, Saroj Pandey, Rekha Sharma, D K Aruna, Chuba Ao, P Abdullakutty, Laxmikant Bajpai, Lata Usendi, Tariq Mansoor

National General Secretaries: Arun Singh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, Tarun Chugh, Vinod Tawde, Sunil Bansal, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Radhamohan Agarwal

National General Secretary (Organisation): B L Santhosh

National Joint Secretary (Organisation): Shiv Prakash

National Secretaries: Vijaya Rahatkar, Satya Kumar, Aravind Menon, Pankaja Munde, Narendra Singh Raina, Alka Gurjar, Anupam Hazra, Om Prakash Dhurve, Rituraj Sinha, Asha Lakra, Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Surendra Singh Nagar, Anil Antony

Treasurer: Rajesh Agarwal; Co-treasurer: Naresh Bansal